Letters to the Editor, Friday, Oct. 20, 2017

President Donald Trump’s administration’s decision to repeal the Clean Power Plan — and promote coal use — is clearly bad for the planet’s future. More importantly, this one will begin harming Americans very quickly.

Coal plants release a lot of pollutants, including mercury (which damages children’s brains) and particulate matter, including bits of unburned coal small enough for people to inhale. These bits of coal cause asthma, strokes, lung damage and heart attacks. So the rollback of the Clean Power Plan is bad for nearly everyone.

We don't need to burn coal, a dirty source of energy, to satisfy our energy needs, and the Trump administration knows that. It's all about playing to a relatively small number of coal miners and money for the pockets of the mining companies.

The government can and should provide programs to help miners make the transition into a job market that doesn't include digging coal out of the ground. It would be a small price to pay for cleaner, healthier air.

Theodore Brown, Bonita Springs

Ignoring violence in American society

What I found to be astonishing besides the scale of the attack in Las Vegas was the quickness with which it was declared not to be a "terrorist" operation. Some were relieved to hear it was just another "lone wolf" single shooter with no obvious motivation.

But what if it was a terrorist plot by a declared enemy? How would the public and government officials have reacted to this incident?

SEAL Team 6 would have been ready for deployment. We would be demanding answers as to how he had so many automatic weapons and how he got them into his room, plus other actions he planned to take to inflict the most damage. This included explosives and shooting at fuel tanks in an attempt to have them explode. This single "lone wolf" in a matter of 11 minutes was able to kill 58 people and wound 530 human beings.

So, because it wasn't a "terrorist" attack, the National Rifle Association can continue to assert that people kill people -- not guns. Their sycophants in Washington can "dodge the bullet" and continue the subterfuge with the NRA and it's donations to their campaigns. The public and media will lament the tragedy and bemoan and debate how could this happen and ignore the obvious: We are a violent society.

Until we address this truth, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, until a "lone wolf" blows it up!

NEWSLETTERS

Get the Florida Voices newsletter delivered to your inbox

We're sorry, but something went wrong

Florida Voices tells the stories of everyday Floridians, examining what issues matter most to them in the Sunshine State.

Anyone who believes that kneeling is disrespectful has not been to church -- or watched "Game of Thrones."

John Vega, Naples

Anthem protests positive

As an honorably discharged Army veteran, I am disgusted by the myopia exhibited in the blizzard of letters criticizing NFL players who protest during the national anthem.

If these letter writers would battle as zealously the racial injustice the players are protesting as they malign the manner of the players' protest, I could perhaps take the writers' outrage seriously.

Do the "anti-take-a-knee" epistlers know that the national anthem, which is the occasion for the protests, denigrates black people who were slaves when the anthem's slave-owning author penned his lyrics (read the third verse)? While scholarly opinion differs about the slaves' situation, the mention of slaves is followed closely by the words "land of the free." What an ironic disparagement today of black Americans who protest against continuing racial injustice.

Shallow, postural patriotism is indulged in by many letter writers (who, I imagine, have much in common with the president and vice president, both of whom never served in the military and fiendishly and mendaciously exploit the protests for political purposes antithetical to the struggle for racial justice). What I honor is dynamic patriotism that respects the Constitution and its strong stand for equal justice for all.

There is something thrillingly patriotic about situating the demands for racial justice during "The Star-Spangled Banner's" performance, rather than having our national anthem abused as one prosaic prelude to violent sports spectacles manipulated for greedy profit. Demands for racial justice infuse the anthem's performance with indisputable glory and raise it to a magnificent height in today's culture because those demands update and reinvigorate the positive aspects of our anthem's symbolism.

Robbins Winslow, Naples

Thanks for the visit

Thank you to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke for visiting Naples to see firsthand the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma.

Our region borders two national parks, Big Cypress National Preserve and Everglades National Park, both of which are struggling to address both deferred maintenance and recent damage. Big Cypress, which remains closed due to safety concerns, protects more than 729,000 acres of swampland, is a designated International Dark Sky Park and is essential to the health of the Everglades, the largest subtropical wilderness in the nation. Deferred maintenance alone for the two totals more than $90 million. It’s more important than ever to restore our parks.

There were more than 10 million visitors to national parks in Florida last year and they, along with the 20 million state residents, spend money at our restaurants, hotels and stores. We need our parks to be accessible and safe for all to keep our economy strong.

We are pleased Zinke understands the positive impact our national parks have on our tourism industry and local economies, and the importance of Everglades restoration. We are thankful for his commitment to addressing deferred maintenance. We encourage him to support dedicated deferred maintenance funding to ensure our parks can thrive for years to come, and look forward to welcoming him back for the ribbon-cutting at the Gulf Coast Visitor Center in Everglades City.

Michael Dalby, president and CEO,

Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce

and Jack Wert, executive director, Naples, Marco Island,

Everglades Convention & Visitors Bureau

Treat women equally in workplace

Today, as I watched "The View" television show, I couldn't believe the shenanigans of movie producer Harvey Weinstein. How dare he? And even worse, how dare they let him get away with such behavior, especially with the proof provided by the audiotape of a New York Police Department sting operation in 2015?

The blow-by-blow description of just what occurred was more than adequate proof to hang that excuse for a "man." I don't give a hang how much money he has or how important he is in his profession. And even more unbelievable is how ugly and unappealing a person he actually is. In all the pictures I've seen of him, he looks dirty and unkempt. He is rarely even dressed well. What's he doing with all his millions, that is, besides getting the Manhattan district attorney not to press charges against him?

It's just not right how many men of means and prominence are getting away with mistreating women in the workplace, and I don't mean just movie stars and aspiring actresses. Women in all walks of life deserve respect and they should demand it. When women know their jobs and do them well, they're worth their weight in gold. And as they take on more responsibility, they deserve equal pay as men in all areas of life.

We've been hearing so much of this nonsense lately that it's becoming boring. I'd like to believe that most men are fair and honest in their treatment of women and that has actually been my experience throughout my lifetime. You simply have to know your own value and stand up for yourself in all situations.

Mary Storto, North Naples

Close schools for MLK Day

Rather than inconvenience families with a full day of school on Dec. 22, the Collier County School Board voted to replace Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday holiday with a hurricane makeup day, leading to a complaint by the local NAACP’s president, Vincent Keeys.

According to Erika Donalds, board member and curriculum censorship zealot, the School Board “did the best it could, given the difficult circumstances.”

I am willing to be inconvenienced to honor the man and movement championing the poor and disenfranchised of both sexes and all races, those who were no strangers to difficult circumstances.

Keeys also recommended that the board consider gearing April 4, the day of King’s assassination, to instruction devoted to him.

It is time to teach an African-American history that foments understanding that all civilization began in Africa and that black history didn’t begin with the arrival of our brothers and sisters, kidnapped as people, not savages, from their fertile continent, rich with innovation and culture. It’s now pertinent to warn against and explain the resurgence of (tiki-torch) Nazis and (hoodless) Ku Klux Klansmen, emboldened by rhetoric from the state.

It’s a perfect opportunity for Collier County Public Schools to do what’s right, but not necessarily popular, while expressing their due deference for Dr. King’s birthday.

In these racially charged times -- when we are debating athletes exercising First Amendment rights while protesting injustice in black communities, juxtaposed with those fighting tooth and nail for monuments of Confederates and the right to own slaves -- we should not slip backward, sacrificing this holiday, legalized in all states only in 2000.
Close schools to honor Dr. King on Jan. 15, especially in the 50th anniversary year of his assassination.

Cynthia Odierna, Naples

Co-founder, SWFL Justice4All Coalition

Trump a dangerous clown

A.V. Fonda’s information source must be Fox News, based on the conclusions reached in Fonda’s letter. Apparently, Fonda has not heard that the White House is actually a day care center, with one, big, dangerous and, yes, childish, client, the man who threatens the stability of the entire world daily, who also holds the title of U.S. president.

Fonda asks, “what are these people thinking of?” of when letter writers criticize the president. They’re thinking of ways to stop a dysfunctional, madly egotistical, irrational, ill-prepared person from causing the country to engage in warfare, Fonda, something you might consider as well, instead of chiding well-meaning U.S. citizens.

History will record that our current situation is the most bizarre and frightful in many a period because somehow we allowed an unstable person to make his way to the White House. Millions of people would like to have their votes back now, without a doubt, because they thought they were only electing a safe TV clown who would entertain us.

Trump is a clown, all right, but an extremely dangerous one. He gets a lot of laughs, to be sure, but it is nervous laughter that any minute could turn to cries. His actions are so unpredictable that he requires “handlers” whose job it is to attempt to keep him within the guardrails. What a pathetic and depressing situation in which the country is placed.

It is his blind followers who feel this deranged person can do no harm who need to stop their childish behavior.

Bob Dimond, Naples

Trump repairing Obama’s damage

Through eight long years, former President Barack Obama exploded our national debt, opened our borders to drug dealers and illegal aliens, appeased our enemies, overregulated our industries that stymied our economic growth, fueled the fires of racial unrest, brought political correctness to ridiculous levels and turned foreign policy into a disaster allowing ISIS to wreck havoc in the Middle East, threatening our allies and the USA.

We now have finally gotten someone in the White House who will undo all the damage that the former president has done and keep us safe while bringing economic growth back to where it belongs.

Love him or hate him, he cares about America and must be given the chance to reverse eight years of chaos.